Well, after some interesting conversations in other threads, I thought that it was about time the MCU received it's own thread. After all, an individual film will have dozens of threads and the MCU is bigger than one film, that's for sure.

I guess, as a starter off, do people like this as a concept? Should this be a format for other comic movies to follow, continuity?

Well I think it's interesting that DC have taken the stance to 'keep everything separate'. That might work in the short term with tight franchises like Batman, but if they're rebooting in like 5 years time, and the MCU is still going, they might have to change tactic.

Well I think it's interesting that DC have taken the stance to 'keep everything separate'. That might work in the short term with tight franchises like Batman, but if they're rebooting in like 5 years time, and the MCU is still going, they might have to change tactic.

They WANT to make a Justice League movie. Have for a while.

I honestly think Marvel beat them to the punch and they don't want to just copy them now so they will wait, biding their time and watching how it goes for Marvel to learn from it.

I LOVE the fact that Feige said there is a giant wall in the Marvel compound dedicated to the continuity and timelines. I would really love to see that someday. I might try to make one sometime with what we know already.

yes. superman returns mentioned gotham city, iirc.
nevertheless, since marvel seems to be superior in bringing their comic universe in the best possible way on the big screen, WB should rethink their strategies. They probably will after GL bombs (which is likely, given the GA reactions to the trailer)

__________________

It wasn't Marvel Studios that made me a Marvel Zombie, it was every other movie studio failing at making superhero movies as good as them! ------------------------------

yes. superman returns mentioned gotham city, iirc.
nevertheless, since marvel seems to be superior in bringing their comic universe in the best possible way on the big screen, WB should rethink their strategies. They probably will after GL bombs (which is likely, given the GA reactions to the trailer)

I can't wait until I have all of the DVDs. A few friends and I are gonna figure out the order of events and make a 10 or so-hour Ultimate Edition of the first five films before Avengers. Well, mostly in order, regardless of the sequence of events Bruce Banner opening his eyes from the end of Incredible Hulk will be the ending.

Lol yeah, I started this thread a while ago but it never really went anywhere, which I thought was odd. It makes sense to have a neutral space to just discuss everything MCU, especially considering the rate at which it's growing.

@HighFivingMF, for sure bro. Either way, it's gonna be awesome. I did that before watching Thor, with IM 1 and 2.

I've always felt the MCU should be one section of the Hype, rather than 4 as it is now or however many more sections it'll end up being. Plus it'd help streamline the main forum page (as would getting rid of Green Hornet, GI Joe, maybe Transformers, none of which are very active)

Oh this is neat. Yeah once Avengers is out I'll be studying abroad in England at the time, so fingers crossed it comes out early there. Short of maybe my gf who's a fan of a couple the movies, I'll be by my lonesome watching the movies in order of release until the midnight premiere. Wherever a theater is there, I'll sniff it out.

Ok, cool. I was gonna suggest this, too.
I think we should clarify that this just pertains to what Marvel Studios is doing, since all the properties at other studios are isolated in their own little worlds. That rules out Fantastic Four, Ghost Rider, Daredevil, Elektra, Spider-Man, and the X-Men.
It's not that I'm not interested in stuff like, say, a gonzo Neveldine/Taylor Ghost Rider picture or Bryan Singer's proposal for a string of X-films in period settings, it's just that those definitely belong to conversations separate from what Feige and the other producers at Marvel are planning.

The films so far, either released or announced (with dates2008
Iron Man
The Incredible Hulk2010
Iron Man 22011
Thor
Captain America: The First Avenger2012The Avengers2013Iron Man 3

I think we can probably take it as a given that they'll have, at minimum, two movies per year, probably starting in 2012. Edgar Wright's Ant-Man is probably next closest to the green light, since they just got that second draft in (and Wright's got a free schedule to do it, as far as anybody knows.) They could plausibly shoot it for release post-Avengers in summer 2012 (and if they were quick enough, Avengers could get a Hank Pym cameo.)
Recent quote from Feige:

Quote:

Thor will go off into a new adventure, and Captain America will continue to explore the modern world in another film of his own. We hope that holds true for the characters appearing in that film – Black Widow, Hawkeye, and the spy organization, S.H.I.E.L.D. – all of whom are more than worthy and capable of carrying their own films. And, we’ve got a lot of other characters we’re prepping and getting ready for film debuts: the world of martial arts, these great cosmic space fantasies, Dr. Strange, and the magic side of the Marvel Universe. There are many, many stories to be mined.

I think you're far more likely to see Black Widow and Hawkeye in supporting roles in a SHIELD movie with Nick Fury than in solo spinoffs. "The world of martial arts" refers to Iron Fist, which Feige's mentioned by name before (with particular fondness for the recent Ed Brubaker run.) Dr. Strange is in development. "Cosmic space fantasies" refers to the Guardians of the Galaxy or the Inhumans (or both.)
Not mentioned in that quote, but Black Panther has a writer, too.

Off the top of my head here, the list of stuff "To Be Announced" probably looks like:
Ant-Man
Black Panther
Iron Fist
SHIELD
Dr. Strange
Guardians of the Galaxy
Inhumans
Thor 2, 3
Captain America 2, 3
Avengers 2, 3
Runaways
...and maybe another Hulk movie as a dark horse candidate, but I have no idea what their Hulk plans are right now.
Going strictly by what Feige's mentioned by name, I supposed you could also consider Werewolf by Night (seriously) and Shang Chi as possibilities. I think he stopped talking about Shang Chi and switched to Iron Fist when Marvel got Luke Cage back. Everyone assumes a War Machine spinoff's coming at some point, but they don't seem to be in a hurry about that.

Big question: when are they moving up to 3+ movies a year, as they've said they want to? I'd assume that means their usual two summer movies plus something dropped elsewhere in the year--something with a lower budget in March or April (the 300 zone. I could see them putting something like Iron Fist here) or something during the holiday season (it's plausible that a Marvel movie could soon wind up being Disney's big holiday release (think Tron: Legacy last year.)

Big question: if "Avengers Assemble" is their first crossover "story," is there another one coming? Is that the Kree-Skrull War? What do we make of the Infinity Gauntlet they displayed at Comic-Con? They'd have plenty of time to get to Thanos for Avengers #3, setting it up piece by piece (Dr. Strange could encounter Death while astral projecting, for example.)

I think we can probably expect to see more Captain America and/or Thor by the end of 2014. I'd expect them to hold off on Avengers 2 until at least 2015, probably no later than 2016.

I think it was very gutsy for Marvel to try to connect all their Marvel Studio movies into the MCU, and not just as a lip-service but one that will result in the biggest superhero crossover movie ever in the cinematic history: the Avengers. It's very ambiguous, and one that even DC shy away from due to the complexity and the potential pitfall that it could entailed. But as a Marvel fan I'm very excited about the whole concept, and I think the Avengers will become a really special movie because of all the buildups that culminate into this movie, instead of making it as a standalone like that proposed Justice League movie.

__________________"I know I'm asking a lot, but the price of freedom is high, it always has been, and it's a price I'm willing to pay. And if I'm the only one, then so be it. But I'm willing to bet I'm not." - Captain America

i think the idea of a connected universe is amazing. it so fun to see the same characters in different movies. if i get the chills when tony stark is mentioned in thor, God knows what will happen when i finally see the avengers together. anywho, is there really only one movie planned for 2012? im not complaining, the avengers is enough, but i was hoping that ant-man or sumthin would come out also. oh well, 2013 will just be more awesome then

i think the idea of a connected universe is amazing. it so fun to see the same characters in different movies. if i get the chills when tony stark is mentioned in thor, God knows what will happen when i finally see the avengers together. anywho, is there really only one movie planned for 2012? im not complaining, the avengers is enough, but i was hoping that ant-man or sumthin would come out also. oh well, 2013 will just be more awesome then

The odds are good that there will be a second movie in 2012, possibly Ant-Man. Springboarding a new, lesser-known property off of Avengers' popularity is an opportunity they ought not to miss.
We'll know what's up by the end of Comic-Con.

I'd like to see another big slate announcement, like the one we saw when they announced the whole leadup to Avengers. They do need to get out there and squat on the release dates they want.

I think they really ought to consider some kind of obvious unifying mark to slap on all the marketing for Marvel Studios films. They're already trying; everything since Iron Man 2's had the Marvel Studios logo with the slim line underneath. I don't think that's enough. Think of a poster like a comic book cover: I want to see something as obvious as a big M.S. logo in the corner, or the old "MARVEL COMICS GROUP" band at the top.

I would ALSO like to see articles placed online and in print that explain all the connections between the films. Little diagrams showing the relationships between Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America, Hulk, Avengers in Entertainment Weekly, Empire, etc. Get people to see how fun this is and encourage them to get together and re-watch these before Summer 2012.

As new layers are added to the shared fiction, perception of the older films will change over time. I think Iron Man 2, especially, will make more sense for a lot of people once they've seen Captain America (and probably Avengers, too.)

Speaking of branding and brand unity, what's going on with TV?
They've got Guillermo del Toro working on a Hulk show--is that the future of the Hulk? Would that star Mark Ruffalo, or is it completely unrelated to the films?
Nevermind the prohibitive expense of portraying a character like the Hulk on TV in the 2010s, I submit that audiences have no tolerance for the confusion of two different feature film Hulks portrayed by three different actors plus a TV Hulk unrelated to either all existing within a span of about ten years.

A strategy that would make sense would be to mimic, say, the world of Bendis' Daredevil/Alias comics: all of the "street-level" vigilante characters crossing over, occasionally interacting with the other "tiers" of the Marvel universe (the high-stakes world of the Avengers, the world of magic and the supernatural, the world of the cosmic) but usually confined to their own little sphere. Set this within the film continuity! It's a bummer that you'd have to get by without Daredevil, but you could potentially mix in characters like:
Jessica Jones
Luke Cage
Iron Fist
The Punisher
She-Hulk
Cloak and Dagger
Moon Knight
Runaways
and more.

It seems like a waste of a tremendous opportunity if Marvel starts producing TV shows that are divorced from the elaborate work they're doing in features.

The films so far, either released or announced (with dates2008
Iron Man
The Incredible Hulk2010
Iron Man 22011
Thor
Captain America: The First Avenger2012The Avengers2013Iron Man 3

Off the top of my head here, the list of stuff "To Be Announced" probably looks like:
Ant-Man
Black Panther
Iron Fist
SHIELD
Dr. Strange
Guardians of the Galaxy
Inhumans
Thor 2, 3
Captain America 2, 3
Avengers 2, 3
Runaways
...and maybe another Hulk movie as a dark horse candidate, but I have no idea what their Hulk plans are right now.
Going strictly by what Feige's mentioned by name, I supposed you could also consider Werewolf by Night (seriously) and Shang Chi as possibilities. I think he stopped talking about Shang Chi and switched to Iron Fist when Marvel got Luke Cage back. Everyone assumes a War Machine spinoff's coming at some point, but they don't seem to be in a hurry about that.

Big question: when are they moving up to 3+ movies a year, as they've said they want to? I'd assume that means their usual two summer movies plus something dropped elsewhere in the year--something with a lower budget in March or April (the 300 zone. I could see them putting something like Iron Fist here) or something during the holiday season (it's plausible that a Marvel movie could soon wind up being Disney's big holiday release (think Tron: Legacy last year.)

there's black widow and hawkeye planned as well.

it's hard to really think how they are going to manage all these properties. while still having the big summer blockbusters. because after ironman 3 there's an opening in their summer blockbuster cycle. after cap 3 thor 3, hulk 3 (i wish) and avengers 3 they need something big if they want to compete in the summer. which of all the above characters do they think they can make a big splash with? who knows. will they recast the avengers and start new trilogies?

The odds are good that there will be a second movie in 2012, possibly Ant-Man. Springboarding a new, lesser-known property off of Avengers' popularity is an opportunity they ought not to miss.
We'll know what's up by the end of Comic-Con.

I'd like to see another big slate announcement, like the one we saw when they announced the whole leadup to Avengers. They do need to get out there and squat on the release dates they want.

ant man thus far has been separate from the avengers initiative. in fact it stems from pre avengers plans. it hasn't even used pym but one of the other ant men. so while they'd love to work with wright and get a good film out to get recognition for ant man they've be treading on the MCUs toes and it's ability to use ant man.